# This message should be removed.... **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [March 23, 2017, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-message-should-be-removed/782840 "2017-03-23T16:25:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-message-should-be-removed/782840/21 "2017-03-23T19:09:34Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > Yeah, anybody can view your license plate when you’re driving a car. I don’t know why Google blurs them in Street View, I’m sure there’s no legal requirement for them to do so, at least in the US. Maybe they just don’t want to have to deal with thousands of potential lawsuits from cheating husbands or employees supposedly sick at home although I don’t think those suits would be successful. I say the plate should have been left unblurred if the board had no legal liability. I could see were tying a particular license plate to an address might be problematical. But a photo of a car with a license plate with no GPS data? What harm could that cause? ---
**Author:** ![purplehearingaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@purplehearingaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehearingaid)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-message-should-be-removed/782840/22 "2017-03-23T19:20:04Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > If you really think so, you should alert a mod (by clicking the triangle-looking symbol in the upper right corner of the post). Though I, personally, don’t see what the problem is. I always see the license plate blacked out when a car is posted on line for privately reasons. It’s so easy to get people personal info online today . The license plate been blacked out on that link so it was a problem showing the license plate . ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-message-should-be-removed/782840/23 "2017-03-23T19:22:58Z")
It is becoming more commonplace to blur license plates. On a car forum I am on, some of us blur our plates, some don’t. But that’s with your own plate, it’s your decision. I often see if someone posts a picture of another’s car, the plate is frequently blurred. But it is not a faux pas if not done, not yet. My daughter bought a car recently and I sent a picture of us with her new car and emailed it out to family. I covered the plate on that picture, and my daughter appreciated it. ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-message-should-be-removed/782840/24 "2017-03-23T20:16:56Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Hmm. I looked again, and it looks like some dark circles have been placed over the license plate, obscuring the number. > > [LLCVega - Navigate the LLC Formation Maze](http://rs1383.pbsrc.com/albums/ah285/Hampshire1/IMG_1165_zps4lajdzkc.jpg?w=480&h=480&fit=clip) > > Not that I care, either. License plates are seen in public, so can be photographed. On my Mac, in Safari and Firefox, the link takes me to an album, the first image being the unmolested version, the second being the blobbed one. And the ‘original’ image is the default one shown. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-message-should-be-removed/782840/25 "2017-03-23T20:26:55Z")
I clicked the link to the picture, and clicking then on the picture toggled on and off black circles. The plate was visible at first, -click- circles, -click- no circles, -click- circles again. I made a drinking game of it. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-message-should-be-removed/782840/26 "2017-03-23T20:58:54Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > I could see were tying a particular license plate to an address might be problematical. > > But a photo of a car with a license plate with no GPS data? What harm could that cause? If the background were at all visible all sorts of problems could arise for the driver. His wife sees the photo and realizes that her husband isn’t where he said he would be. She doesn’t know where the car is but she knows it’s not parked at her husband’s workplace. An alibi could be torpedoed for a suspect, a boss could realize his employee is faking sickness, all sorts of stuff. In many cases it isn’t so much where the car is as where it isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-message-should-be-removed/782840/27 "2017-03-23T21:37:16Z")
> [@Pork\_Rind](#): > > On my Mac, in Safari and Firefox, the link takes me to an album, the first image being the unmolested version, the second being the blobbed one. And the ‘original’ image is the default one shown. > [@bobot](#): > > I clicked the link to the picture, and clicking then on the picture toggled on and off black circles. The plate was visible at first, -click- circles, -click- no circles, -click- circles again. I made a drinking game of it. Interesting. I see two images in the album. Both have three overlapping circles hiding the license plate number. Clicking either of them does not remove the circles. Try I might, I can’t read the number. I’m on a phone browser. I don’t know if it has anything to do with it, but I can view sites in either desktop or mobile view. Theoretically, we should see the same thing. But it’s all irrelevant, anyway. The car owner’s privacy isn’t being violated. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-message-should-be-removed/782840/28 "2017-03-23T21:50:31Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > If the background were at all visible all sorts of problems could arise for the driver. His wife sees the photo and realizes that her husband isn’t where he said he would be. She doesn’t know where the car is but she knows it’s not parked at her husband’s workplace. An alibi could be torpedoed for a suspect, a boss could realize his employee is faking sickness, all sorts of stuff. > > In many cases it isn’t so much where the car is as where it isn’t. The same issue can arise if the husband’s recognizable face appears in a crowd shot, like “OK, who was the blonde you were sitting net to at the Knicks game, when you said you had to work late?” But the presenter of the image has no responsibility to obscure the identities of anyone recognizable, unless there is knowing intent to present the person in a compromising situation. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-message-should-be-removed/782840/29 "2017-03-23T22:03:11Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > If the background were at all visible all sorts of problems could arise for the driver. His wife sees the photo and realizes that her husband isn’t where he said he would be. She doesn’t know where the car is but she knows it’s not parked at her husband’s workplace. An alibi could be torpedoed for a suspect, a boss could realize his employee is faking sickness, all sorts of stuff. > > In many cases it isn’t so much where the car is as where it isn’t. Well, don’t do those things, and you won’t have to worry about it. I don’t where it’s my job to cover for your bad behavior… ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-message-should-be-removed/782840/30 "2017-03-23T22:34:32Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Interesting. I see two images in the album. Both have three overlapping circles hiding the license plate number. Clicking either of them does not remove the circles. Try I might, I can’t read the number. > > I’m on a phone browser. I don’t know if it has anything to do with it, but I can view sites in either desktop or mobile view. Theoretically, we should see the same thing. Previously, there were two images in the photobucket album, one of them with circles over the plate and the other without. Depending on your browser and/or how you get to the image, clicking might do nothing or it might move from one image to the other. If the latter, it would look like the circles are appearing/disappearing, but it’s the entire image that is being swapped. It looks like the poster has since added circles to both images. ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-message-should-be-removed/782840/31 "2017-03-23T22:52:13Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > It looks like the poster has since added circles to both images. Still cycling between circles and no circles for me (Firefox 52.0.1, Ubuntu Linux 16.04) ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-message-should-be-removed/782840/32 "2017-03-23T22:59:38Z")
Good. Don’t take away my drinking game! I’d have to come up with a new one, like flipping a coin. Heads, I drink; tails, …you know. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-message-should-be-removed/782840/33 "2017-03-23T23:33:20Z")
> [@Canadjun](#): > > Still cycling between circles and no circles for me (Firefox 52.0.1, Ubuntu Linux 16.04) Cached by your browser - clear the cache and I bet they both have circles. Or the OP is messing with us. ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-message-should-be-removed/782840/34 "2017-03-24T00:01:57Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > Cached by your browser - clear the cache and I bet they both have circles. Bingo! I so rarely have cache issues that I didn’t think of that. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-message-should-be-removed/782840/35 "2017-03-24T01:14:20Z")
I looked up the license plate. That car belongs to Barbra Streisand. ---
**Author:** ![eulalia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eulalia/32/457_2.png) [@eulalia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eulalia)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-message-should-be-removed/782840/36 "2017-03-24T02:39:11Z")
Sometimes Streetview blurs all of the signs and some of the scenery. Makes playing GeoGuessr more of a challenge. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-message-should-be-removed/782840/37 "2017-03-24T03:22:37Z")
Google street view has one of our bushes blurred out. Must be protecting the identity of one of the neighborhood cats. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-message-should-be-removed/782840/38 "2017-03-24T03:27:43Z")
[QUOTE=beowulff;20088002But a photo of a car with a license plate with no GPS data? What harm could that cause?[/QUOTE] > [@aldiboronti](#): > > If the background were at all visible all sorts of problems could arise for the driver. His wife sees the photo and realizes that her husband isn’t where he said he would be. She doesn’t know where the car is but she knows it’s not parked at her husband’s workplace. An alibi could be torpedoed for a suspect, a boss could realize his employee is faking sickness, all sorts of stuff. I don’t see a photographer or online poster has any legal obligation to help an adulterous husband, or a criminal’s fake alibi, or a cheating employee. The general public is under no obligation to support someone else ‘bearing false witness’ – quite the opposite. Thousands of cheating husbands are exposed when the wife checks their cellphone log – could such an exposed husband then sue Verizon for the ‘harm’ done to him by that? If you are telling the truth, you should not be worried by photographs like this. And if you’re not, _I_ have no obligation to support your falsehood. Or even to make effort to avoid exposing it. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-message-should-be-removed/782840/39 "2017-03-24T05:11:28Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Hmm. I looked again, and it looks like some dark circles have been placed over the license plate, obscuring the number. And below it seems to be the link to the unblotted version; not that I was curious enough to try to view it as slow as my internet is tonight. FWIW I’ve found two of my plates across the internet several times. Theme-painted motorcycles and vanity plates that match, I would be shocked as Hell if I didn’t find them here and there. Personally I call it much ado about nothing but I hold no grudge against those who feel its a major big deal. I just write it off to the joys of the internet. ---
**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-message-should-be-removed/782840/40 "2017-03-24T05:50:14Z")
All that I see now are the edited versions. But you can still see the face of the driver, another car’s license plate, and the number and route of a city bus. :eek: I think we’d better close down the internet until we get this all sorted out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-message-should-be-removed/782840.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-message-should-be-removed/782840.md?page=3)